Recipe Description
Boxing chicken is a popular fried chicken appetiser that is basically frenched chicken wings where the meat is scraped down from the bone end and rolled into the shape of a boxing glove. It is also called chicken lollipop in India and the Philippines, although most people in Southeast Asian countries including Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand call it boxing chicken. It is also known as tit gung gai, translated as iron cock in Cantonese, and is actually a derogatory term to describe a stingy person. Perhaps the name is derived from the tight-fisted practice of making a fancy meal out of what used to be a cheap part of the chicken.
My mom had only made this dish once while I was a kid. I realised why she never made it again when I attempted the recipe and experienced the sheer effort needed to french the chicken wings. That being the most time-consuming part of the dish, you may want to tackle the task ahead of time or involve family members to prepare it together during festive seasons.
Each whole chicken wing yields two pieces of boxing chicken. Frenching the drumette is fairly straightforward. It is more tricky to french the wingette or middle wing, where you’d need to discard the smaller radius bone before scraping down the meat to form the boxing glove. It was surprising that when rolled into shape, the drumette and wingette had almost the same amount of meat. And it appears that everyone prefers the wingette because it is smoother and juicier.
The shape of boxing chicken has always appealed to children, thus I thought it makes better sense to marinate with herbs and pepper as a non-spicy option rather than the more traditional marinade of curry powder. You may, however, make a spicy dipping sauce for the adults and also serve a few different bottled sauces such as Thai sweet chili sauce or mayonnaise as alternative dips.
Instead of regular breadcrumbs, you may also use crushed cornflakes or Japanese panko for the crust. Just beware that the chicken on the inside may not cook at the same rate as the browning on the outside. What makes this dish so convenient is that the chicken can be frozen after frying and reheated in the oven or air fryer when needed. Because of the breading, the chicken remains moist inside.
Recipe Ingredient
- Ingredients
- 12 chicken wings
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- 1 cup flour
- 4 cups cooking oil for frying
- Dipping Sauce
- 20g butter
- ½ cup tomato ketchup
- ½ cup water
- 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp chilli powder
- 2 tsp black pepper
- Garnish (optional)
- 1 pod red chilli, finely diced
- 1 pod green chilli, finely diced
Instructions
- Combine all dipping sauce ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce until thickened.
- Wipe the chicken wings dry with paper towels. Separate the chicken wings at their joints into drumettes and wingettes, and discard wing tips.
- To french the drumettes, detach the ligaments, then carefully scrape the meat off the humerus bone and roll the meat down until it forms the shape of a boxing glove.
- With the wingette, cut into the joint to detach the small radius bone from the bigger ulna, then scrape the meat off the radius and discard the bone. Finally, scrape the meat off the ulna and roll the meat down until it forms the shape of a boxing glove.
- Season chicken with salt, pepper and chopped parsley.
- Beat eggs in a bowl, and place the flour and bread crumbs into separate dishes.
- To bread the chicken wings, dredge each piece with flour, then coat with the egg and finally encrust with the breadcrumbs. Repeat with the rest of the wings.
- Heat up oil in the pan and deep fry over medium heat for about 5 minutes until pale golden. Drain excess oil on paper towels, then bake for 5-10 minutes in a 150°C oven to cook the wings all the way through.
- Garnish with red and green chillies and serve immediately with dipping sauce.
